AUSTIN, January 13, 2017 – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) will join the country in observing National AMBER Alert Awareness Day on Friday, Jan. 13, in remembrance of the 1996 abduction and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington, Texas. AMBER stands for “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.”

Additionally, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has declared January 13 as AMBER Alert Awareness Day in Texas. See the entire proclamation at: http://www.dps.texas.gov/dem/temo/articles/amberAlertAwarenessDay.pdf

“The AMBER Alert program is a pivotal tool that leverages the public’s assistance in law enforcement efforts to locate and bring home missing children,” said DPS Director Steven McCraw. “We are thankful for the various public and private sector partners as well as the media who help push these critical notifications to the public. We also are grateful to the people of Texas, whose vigilance continues to help protect our most vulnerable population – our children.”

In response to Amber Hagerman’s death, law enforcement and media representatives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area created the first AMBER Alert program, which served as a model nationwide for alerting the public about abducted children. All 50 U.S. states and several other countries have an AMBER Alert program. The state program supplements existing regional alerting networks, autonomous from the state’s network, which consist of a group of organized resources contained within multiple counties.

Established in 2002, the statewide program managed by DPS provides law enforcement a mechanism for rapid notification of the media and the public in these serious child abduction cases when certain statutory criteria are met.

Since 2002 through the end of 2016, 154 children have been safely recovered during AMBER Alerts issued by DPS. Activation of the Texas AMBER Alert Network involves resources from the following groups:

Texas Department of Public Safety
Office of the Governor
National Weather Service
Texas Department of Transportation
Local, state and federal law enforcement
Media
Texas Association of Broadcasters
Independent Bankers Association of Texas
Texas Lottery Commission
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which was added as a state partner in 2005, providing notification to the public through wireless carriers, content providers and major retailers.

DPS currently offers an email notification system that distributes AMBER Alert information at no cost to members of law enforcement, media and the public. Anyone wishing to become a subscriber can register online with a valid email address and zip code at http://www.dps.texas.gov/DEM/AMBERALERT/AMBERREGISTER.ASPX

If your child is missing:

Immediately call your local law enforcement agency to file a missing persons report.
Be prepared to provide law enforcement with the most recent photo of the child, a detailed description of what the child was wearing and any other information that could help identify the child or the abductor, such as vehicle and license plate information.

DPS currently offers an email notification system that distributes AMBER Alert information at no cost to members of law enforcement, media and the public. Anyone wishing to become a subscriber can register online with a valid email address and zip code at http://www.dps.texas.gov/DEM/AMBERALERT/AMBERREGISTER.ASPX.

Follow @TX_Alerts to receive AMBER Alert information statewide, issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

For more information on the Texas AMBER Alert Program, visit http://www.dps.texas.gov/dem/Operations/Alerts/index.htm.